RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan criticised the deferment of the £190m case’s verdict by terming it a pressure tactic of rulers, his sister Aleema Khan said yesterday amid ongoing negotiations between the former ruling party and the coalition government to end political disputes. “

They want a sword hanging on my neck by not giving a verdict of £190m case,” Aleema quoted the former premier as saying while talking to reporters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. This statement came after Islamabad’s accountability court postponed the case’s verdict till January 13 yesterday. It was the third time that the verdict  reserved on December 18 in the said case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, has been deferred as it was previously scheduled to be announced on December 23 and then on January 6.  Aleema said that the PTI founder “wants them to sentence him so entire world would know what kind of case is this”. She said that Imran would immediately challenge the accountability court’s verdict in the high court if he is sentenced. Slamming the rulers, Imran’s sister said that the government was giving the impression that the PTI founder wanted to get out of jail after striking an NRO-like deal. The NRO is a term derived from former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s National Reconciliation Ordinance back in 2007 to grant amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, money laundering, murders and terrorism. She also claimed that the government attempted to send Imran out of the country for three years and later offered him “house arrest” in return for “staying silent” to let the incumbent function She said that Imran emphasised securing his release after proving his innocence via legal battle.